Friday, November 7, 2008

I have been turning my attention more and more to New Hampshire’s White Mountains for painting locations. This painting,"Mount. Adams and Monroe in Autumn", is from the Presidential Range. I made a painted sketch on location there and used it to produce this painting in the studio. It is influenced by the American Luminist painting of the late 19th century. Many of the famous painters of that era actually worked in the White Mountains.

Luminism may not be a familiar term to many folks these days. In fact, my spellchecker flagged it as an error and suggested "Leninism"! Usually in a luminist painting, the sun is within the canvas, which makes the light seem to emanate from the picture. The object is to get "glow." Luminist pictures often have a stillness or even a spiritual quality that makes them very different from multicolored impressionist paintings, which tend to be characterized by dynamic compositions and flashy brushwork. I also used a far more restrained palette than usual here, only a few earth colors and white. A limited palette gives good color unity and has the added benefit of fitting in well with many contemporary home color schemes.

About Me

I am a professional landscape painter.I make my living painting pictures.
In my blog I show my paintings, offer some of the techniques, ideas and methods I have learned over the years, and talk about how to make a living as an artist. I present some essays on painting, art, and hopefully amuse you some at the same time. I will also tell you about many of the fine painters I have known over the years and some who died long ago. I talk about my training in the studios of R.H.Ives Gammell and about the many artists who have mentored me along the way. I also try to explain what I THINK makes a good painting, and how to go about making one.
If you have just found this blog, I suggest you go back to the earliest posts and read forward. It is now an enormous archive of about a thousand posts. The posts start out with the most basic information and progress towards the more philosophical side of painting. I hope you will find it useful!
.............Stape

Teaching

I do teach and I do travel. If you are interested in booking workshops or having me visit and teach at your institution, school or art association please email me at stapletonkearns@gmail.com I am presently booked for several workshops in the coming year and will be announcing more . If you are interested in attending a workshop please let me know as well.